Martha Brown Friddles Tester Dyson?

On the whole, I have been pretty successful in finding and gathering information pertaining to my various family lines.  However, there are a few brick walls that have presented themselves through the years, especially with the Friddle family.  I don’t know if I ever will make much progress on Moses Friddles past his supposed 1826 birthdate – but I have had almost as difficult a time on my great grandfather’s mother as well.

Martha “Mattie” E. Brown was born Sep 1862 in North Carolina probably either in Ashe Co., NC or Watauga Co., NC.  She was the daughter of a John Brown born abt 1836 in North Carolina and his wife, Margaret J. b. abt 1844 in North Carolina.  Her family is recorded in the 1870 census in Taylorsville, Dist. 2, Johnson Co., TN Pg. 3, #18.  By the 1880 census, Martha is married to Moses Friddles.  I have to wonder on a personal note if the pickings were pretty slim.  When she married Moses Friddle on 12 Oct 1878, she was 16 years old and he was 52 years old and she was his 4^th wife.   Moses died in 1890 and by that time, they had had six children in 10 years.  The youngest was my great grandfather.  Their children were:

• Roby B. Friddles b. 23 Mar 1879 Johnson Co., TN d. 25 Aug 1928 Johnson Co., TN m. Dora McLain
• Jesse C. Friddles b. 16 Mar 1881 Johnson Co., TN d. ?
• Calia Friddles b. 16 Mar 1883 Johnson Co., TN d. bef 1910 m. Clayton Matherson
• James Blaine Friddles b. 29 Sep 1884 Johnson Co., TN d. 10 Oct 1928 Johnson Co., TN m. 1 25 Dec 1901 Dora Nevada Heck m. 2 4 Nov 1917 Emeline Guy
• Roy Friddles b. 4 Feb 1887 Johnson Co., TN d. bef 22 Apr 1891 Johnson Co., TN
• David Carl Friddle b. 1 May 1889 Johnson Co., TN d. 4 Jan 1955 Lewiston, Nez Perce Co., ID m. 22 Dec 1908 Sophia Vestelle Dollar.

The only reason that I have definite dates on their children is because the information came from Moses Friddles Civil War pension.  Evidently, Martha attempted to claim a few children who were no longer living.  I’ve never been able to find out much on her siblings or her parents after the 1880 census when they are still recorded in Johnson Co., TN.

By the 1900 census, Martha has remarried to John M. Tester (m. 18 Jun 1899) and is living with him, however her children are not.  My great grandfather is located in the household of Richard A. Wilson and is listed as a servant at the age of 11.  A short distance away, Calia is listed as a servant of Nathaniel Ward in his household.  Roby is listed in the military at Balincaguin, Philippine Islands, Military and Naval Forces, Pg. 1 - 36th Inf, Co H.  I’ve never located James and I believe that Jesse and Roy are both dead at this time.  I don’t know if Martha and John Tester divorced or separated, but John Tester is remarried after 1903 and Martha marries a T. F. Dyson on 29 Nov 1908 and she herself dies on 16 Jun 1909.  I’m not really positive about the third marriage, but I know that the first two did occur and that John M. Tester marries a Virgie in 1903.  According to the death record that I found for Mattie Dyson, she died of paralysis at about the age of 50.

My great grandfather never really wanted to go back to Tennessee especially after his brother, James died in 1928.  The bare facts of his childhood support the fact that he didn’t have a happy childhood and probably never really had a real childhood or a close relationship with his mother.  I know that she worked as a servant for a while for a Judge Vaught and that the old Judge taught my great grandfather how to read and write and that was probably the most formal education he had until he married my great grandmother.

Mattie still remains a mystery.  I have some clues to what happened to her but few facts.  I can’t seem to find the right section of Browns that would include her family.  In this area of Tennessee and North Carolina, Brown might be a more common name than Johnson and then to stick the first name of John on the front really makes it difficult.  I was excited a few years ago to finally get a copy of a picture of her.  It must have been taken at about the time of Calia’s marriage.  Perhaps someday, I will find out more about who she was and who her family was.

Upper level - James Blaine Friddles next to Calia Friddles - Lower - possibly Clayton Matherson, Dora  (James'  wife holding baby Jessie)  and Martha Brown Friddles Tester on the lower right.

Piecing it together…

I have a pretty good database of Penningtons from Ashe Co., NC.  I have been a member of the Pennington Research Association for about 15 years now and have been head of Family Group 7 within that group for almost the same amount of time.  In the beginning, I spent most of my time gathering information about my specific branch of the family moving beyond that within a few years.  I concentrated only on the descendants of Micajah Pennington for a few years (Micajah is the head of Group 7 – b 1743 NC).  Since then I have branched out even further to look at all of the Penningtons in Ashe Co., NC and their surroundings.  This goal at times – has forced me to try and figure out where a family belongs. 

I am a member of the New River list (Yahoo Groups newslist)…and every few weeks someone posts local obits from the area.  These obits usually come from North Carolina, Virginia, or Tennessee.  The Pennington families from that area are primarily the descendants of Group 7 – Micajah Pennington, Group 12 – Samuel Pennington, and Group 30 – Abram Pennington.  If you want more information on these groups…please check out the PRA website at www.penningtonresearch.org. Anyway, a few weeks ago, someone posted an obit on a Joseph Max Pennington b. 8/15/1941 d. 1/2/2012. 

Max was born at Independence, VA, the Saddle Creek Community to the late Joe Pennington and Grace Ward Pennington. Surviving, brother-in-law, John Williams of Lynchburg, VA and several cousins also survive. Graveside service will be held at 3:00 p.m., Thursday, January 5, 2011 at Saddle Creek Cemetery, Independence, VA Elder Curtis Hash officiating. Military rites conducted by Grayson County VFW Post 7726. There will not be a visitation at the funeral home.

It gave me the information that he was the son of Joe Pennington and Grace Ward.  Since he was born after 1930 – my search is automatically made a bit harder.  Here is what I do when I am trying to figure the lineage out:

1. Check my database.  Sometimes, I already have him in my database and I just need to add the additional information.
2. See if I have his parents – I usually try the father first and then the mother.  It is sometimes easier to search for the mother because the Penningtons made a habit of naming their children family names that got duplicated many times.  Sometimes it is difficult to figure out who is who.
3. If I don’t have either the individual or the parents in my database, now I have to do a bit more research.  One of my best places to search is www.findagrave.com – which people have posted gravestones of those who have passed.  The first place to look is the cemetery where Joseph Max is to be buried.  Using this method, I am able to locate his parents as well, because he is to be buried in the same cemetery as his parents.  At this point, I still am not sure which group Joseph Max belongs in, so I keep searching.
4. I will then probably logon to www.ancestry.com (a paid resource) and look up census records on the parents and see if I can figure out who his parent’s families are.  I figure out that Joseph C. Pennington (Joseph Max’s father) is the son of William Columbus Pennington and Bena Phipps and checking out www.findagrave.com, I discover that they both are also buried in the same cemetery.  This method takes me back to William Columbus Pennington’s parents, Johnson A. Pennington and Elizabeth Poe.  All this time, I am adding details such as census data, additional siblings and death dates as I find them.  I never know when this information might be useful. 
5. At this point, I may check out WorldGenconnect on www.rootsweb.com and see if someone else has posted information on this family.  This information can point me in the right direction to find more information on the family.  While doing this, I notice a curious coincidence.  I already have William D. Pennington and Sarah in my database (Johnson’s parents).  I don’t however; have Johnson Pennington under that family.  I notice a curious coincidence though – I have a Jonathan Pennington and Johnson Pennington under the same family with the same birthdate.  I look further to see what other information that I have because this could be the same person or they could be twins.

a.       Jonathan is married to Jane Gincy Hash on 3/15/1874 and she dies on 7/14/1886.

b.      Johnson is married to Elizabeth Poe abt 1877.

Until I have further information, I will leave both in my database with a note reminding myself of what I have found.  My best guess is that I might be dealing with twins, but I can’t be sure with what data is available to me at this time.

I have come across this family before and at that point, I could not make a conclusion as to which family group that they belonged in.  I can make an educated guess that it is probably Group 30 – but William D. Pennington b. 1806 doesn’t fit there.  So – where does he fit?  The answer is “I don’t know?”  However, I have put in the data that I have been able to find at this point and the family will come up again during my research, and perhaps someday I will be able to find that final piece.